How Cargo Cult Bayesians encourage Deep Learning Alchemy

There is a struggle today for the heart and minds of Artificial Intelligence. It’s a complex “Game of Thrones” conflict that involves many houses (or tribes) (see: “The Many Tribes of AI”). The two waring factions I focus on today is on the practice Cargo Cult science in the form of Bayesian statistics and in the practice of alchemy in the form of experimental Deep Learning.

For the uninitiated, let’s talk about what Cargo Cult science means. Cargo Cult science is a phrase coined by Richard Feynman to illustrate a practice in science of not working from fundamentally sound first principles. Here is Richard Feynman’s original essay on “Cargo Cult Science”. If you’ve never read it before, it great and refreshing read. I read this in my youth while studying physics. I am unsure if its required reading for physicists, but a majority of physicists are well aware of this concept.